Why some Minnesota law enforcement agencies will not follow Trump’s mass deportation plan

After returning to the White House, President Donald Trump and his administration have spared no time cranking up threats of mass deportation — and pressuring local and state officials to support that agenda. 

But in Minnesota, many public safety officials and local leaders say that message has changed nothing. They’re continuing on with business as usual and will focus on keeping their own communities safe and following local laws.

Both Minneapolis and St. Paul have separation ordinances, which prevent city employees — including police officers — from asking people about their legal status. 

For many local law enforcement leaders, that type of approach comes down to building trust and safety for the whole community. That’s the case for Minneapolis police Chief Brian O’Hara, who has been outspoken about long-standing department rules prohibiting officers from checking or asking for legal status — unless a crime involves smuggling or human trafficking. 

“The police department can only be effective when community tells us what’s going on, when community is willing to tell us when they’ve been victimized, when they need help,” O’Hara said in an interview with MPR News, ahead of Trump’s inauguration. “It would have a very chilling effect on our ability to provide public safety in the city if people were afraid to call the Minneapolis police because they think we’re going to call immigration on them.”

Cities with similar policies are so-called “sanctuary cities,” because they limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and are generally welcoming toward all immigrants, regardless of legal status. 

That has made these cities the target of sanctions from the first and current Trump administrations.

Pressure from the administration to comply

During his first term, Trump attempted to starve sanctuary cities of the Justice Department’s $250 million in public safety grants. That move was tangled up in lengthy legal battles and was ultimately undone when President Joe Biden took office in 2021.

As many anticipated, those threats have escalated. On Jan. 21, a day after Inauguration, Trump’s acting deputy attorney general issued a memo warning officials that they could be charged for harboring people who are in the country illegally if they fail to comply with “immigration-related commands.”  

That memo also directed FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces to assist with the immigration agenda — and said a newly formed Sanctuary City Task Force may challenge local laws opposing Trump’s immigration agenda. 

“There’s nothing in American law that requires local officials to cooperate with federal law enforcement officials,” said Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison in a video posted to X. “In fact, the scarce resources of our state should be devoted to the business of our state, and the federal government should focus on its own business.”

Ellison is among a coalition of state attorneys who have repeatedly taken action against Trump administration commands they say are in clear violation of the Constitution.

In Minnesota, local law enforcement agencies do not have the authority to arrest people for being in the country illegally. However, when people are booked into a jail and fingerprinted, that data goes to the FBI — which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can access to check against their database. If they are notified of someone they want to arrest, they can issue a detainer request.

Three Minnesota counties — Freeborn, Kandiyohi and Sherburne — have federal contracts to hold detainees flagged by ICE. The agency says they typically target immigrants who are public safety threats and may be deportable. More than 70 percent of detainees in the Midwest last year had criminal convictions, according to ICE statistics.

Beyond those three contracts, no other county jails can legally hold people beyond their release date without a court order — which is not the same as a detainer request.

They can choose to inform ICE if an undocumented immigrant is set to be released soon, however. 

Legal cases clarify legal responsibilities 

During Trump’s first term, the ACLU of Minnesota filed — and won — three lawsuits against counties that held immigrants for ICE agents without proper authorization.

Ian Bratlie, an ACLU attorney based in southern Minnesota, said that’s made it even more clear where the law stands — setting up a different landscape this time around. Altogether, that litigation cost those counties $650,000 combined, he said. 

“You saw a lot of changes to policies around the state after that case came out. If you look at county policies, jail booking policies, you're going to see language saying that the jail will not be able to hold people past their state court release time,” Bratlie said. 

He said he views communications from D.C. that pressure cooperation as geared toward “scaring people into compliance, rather than making good faith legal arguments.”

“They can’t just claim power from nothing,” he added.

ICE has identified more than a dozen Minnesota counties as being uncooperative because they don’t have “adequate hold time” for agents to assume custody of immigrants. Some of those counties were also flagged by ICE for not providing notifications when an undocumented immigrant will be released. There’s no law requiring that, either. 

Pipestone County was on the non-cooperative list. Chief Deputy Mike Hamann said he has “no idea” why that is. 

“I mean we work with them, not daily but sometimes weekly if not monthly,” he said. “When the need arises, they reach out, and we work with them, and they work with us.”

MPR News reached out to ICE for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.

Richard Hodson, general counsel for the Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association, said he’s received several calls over the past few days from sheriffs who are confused by “inconsistent signals” and are seeking reminders of their legal obligations. He said there’s a lot of “noise” from the feds, but nothing concrete. 

“They can’t legally hold these people,” he said. “And yet they’re hearing threats from the federal government that there’s going to be unspecified bad things happening to local law enforcement that don't cooperate with federal agencies. And no one knows what that cooperation is supposed to look like at this point.”

One jail already seeing more detainees

Sheriff Ryan Shea with Freeborn County says in the days since Trump has returned to office, Homeland Security officials have alerted the jail to “expect more or be ready to hold more people.” That tracks with what Shea has seen. 

Though he could not share specific numbers, he says there’s been a “noticeable” increase in detainer requests. His department has budgeted $3 million this year in expected revenue from that agreement, he added. 

Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson said detainer requests from ICE remain “the same as it was a year ago at this time.” The Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to multiple inquiries from MPR News.

Enforcing federal immigration law is not only beyond the authority of local law enforcement but also beyond what many have the capacity to focus on. Hodson pointed to a shortage of law enforcement officers, 911 dispatchers and jail staff in some jurisdictions across the state. 

“You can only do so much with the resources you have,” he said. “When you allocate, public safety dealing with traditional crimes that are the local level’s responsibility versus a larger federal policy objective. I certainly can understand why for very many police and sheriffs, federal immigration enforcement is simply not going to be a priority.”